Vinoba Bhave

Vinoba Bhave (11 September 1895-15 November 1982) was an Indian nonviolence and human rights activist.

Biography
Vinoba Bhave was born in Gagoda, Maharashtra, British Raj on 11 September 1895 of a high-caste brahmin family. He became an ardent disciple of Mahatma Gandhi in 1916, and he was interned regularly in the 1920s and 1930s for his nonviolent opposition to British rule; he was imprisoned from 1940 to 1944 for his opposition to Indian participation in World War II. After Gandhi's assassination in 1948, he was regarded as the leading exponent of Gandhism, and he founded the Sarvodaya Samaj to work among Indian refugees; in 1958, he began the Bhoodan (land-gift) movement, which acquired land for redistribution among landless low-caste villagers. At first, his object was to acquire individual plots, but he later sought to transfer entire villages to village councils; he walked 45,000 miles during his campaign. His campaign led to a substantial redistribution of land, but most of the land gifts were unproductive and uneconomic. He also sought to resolve conflicts and achieve economic and social reform, and he worked for worthy causes until his death in 1982.